Snap Fitness Blog

Question: When I’m working on strength training, does it matter what order I do the exercises? Should I do all upper body at once? Or alternate with lower body?

Answer: This really depends on what your goals are and how advanced you are at working out. I like to see beginners doing a full body workout three days a week. For example, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday completing one set for chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, abdominals, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. This way you are only hitting each muscle very little and still have a day to rest in between. The next phase would be upper body on Tuesday and Friday and Lower body on Monday and Wednesday. You would increase your sets to 2 or 3 per exercise, knowing you will get a two day rest in-between body parts. A more advanced routine may be to do chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, biceps on Wednesday, triceps on Thursday, legs on Friday, and shoulders on Saturday. Each day you would pick three exercises per body part and would complete two sets of 15 per exercise. This would hit the muscle for much more repetitions and allow for a whole week to recover. his information is just an example of things you can do to break up body parts but I would recommend seeing a personal trainer for some personal advice and consulting. There are likely some great ones at your Snap gym!

GUEST BLOGGER | Chad Ruf, Director of Personal Training

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Losing weight and keeping it off takes a long-term approach. You’re changing your lifestyle, which doesn’t happen overnight. Wondering where to start making permanent changes? Here are successful strategies to get you started.

Set Realistic Goals

Determine how much weight you want to lose each week and make sure the goal is realistic. It’s always a good idea to consult with a doctor or nutritionist. They will look at your dietary needs and work with you to customize a plan that includes attainable goals.

Having goals are important. They keep you motivated to achieve something each week and break up the long-term approach into manageable weekly goals. Whether you are looking to lose weight or keep it off, stepping on the scale is part of the process. Use it as a guide and don’t let a number determine how you feel. Instead, learn from what might have gone wrong and use it to keep pushing toward where you want to be.

Enjoy Healthy Foods

Fueling your body with healthy food doesn’t mean you need to give up taste. Do you have a favorite dish that isn’t healthy? Find a recipe that offers a healthy alternative. You also want to consume plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables. A good goal is to eat four servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit each day.

Also, healthy eating starts with breakfast. This gets your metabolism going and helps cut cravings for things you want to avoid, such as sugar and processed food.

Getting 30 minutes of exercise in most days of the week is a good goal. If you can’t get a workout in, look for ways to still move your body. Do things like take the stairs instead of using an elevator. Every step counts toward reaching your goals.

Change your Perspective

You can do this! Remember, these are lifestyle changes and don’t need to be accomplished overnight. There might also be an occasional setback, but don’t give up. Instead, start fresh the next day and remember, tomorrow is a new opportunity to reach your goals.

You take time out of your day, that’s already jam-packed, to get to the gym and you don’t want to waste it. But with distractions, no plan, and minimal fuel, that’s exactly what will happen.

Luckily, there are a variety of simple ways for everyone to be more effective at the gym, allowing you to be strong, focused and more productive with the little time you have. Use these tips to make the most of your time at the gym. Bonus: you may even hit your fitness goals faster than you anticipated.

Write a Plan Before You Go

One of the best ways to ruin a good workout is to go to the gym without a plan, which leaves you walking around aimlessly, trying to decide what to do next. Be more effective with your time by writing a plan, the more specific the better. My workout plan usually looks like this:

Renegade rows

Heavy weighted squats

Yoga ball - prone back lift

Spiderman

Pushups

DB rows - palms posterior

Yoga ball pass

Lat box w/o drop in front

Superman with alt arm/leg raise

Shoulder press

Alt chest flies

Tricep swings

If you want to make it even more effective, write in the weight you’ll use and total rep counts.

I write this plan at home, usually right before I leave, and then email it to myself and pull it up on my phone when I arrive. If you create this in Google Docs or Google Sheets, you can access it directly from Google Drive on your phone.

If you don’t know how to write a workout or what to include, use an app like Nike Fit that does all the work for you. Choose your goals for the workout and follow along as it times the intervals and gives you the right exercises to do, complete with videos of how to do them.

Have a Pre-Workout Meal

If you don’t have enough fuel in your body, finishing a workout will be challenging—unless you’re doing fasted cardio, which is a topic all on its own. Without fuel, your body is running on empty, making output difficult, especially if you’re strength training.

Everybody has different pre-workout needs, but an easy way to remember how much you should eat is: the closer you get to the workout the less you should eat, focusing on fast-digesting carbohydrates that deliver a quick and readily available source of glucose, which your body needs for lasting energy.

If your workout is 2 to 3 hours away, indulge in complex carbohydrates and lean protein, like a sandwich with deli meat or chicken and veggies—by the time you hit the gym, your body will have had enough time to digest and absorb the fuel.

If you plan to work out in an hour or so, go for a small bowl of whole grain cereal or oatmeal with a piece of fruit. The small serving size will allow your body to digest in time for the workout.

If you work out early in the morning, within a half hour of waking up, grab a piece of fruit like an apple or banana for a quick and digestible burst of energy.

Say No to Distractions

There are many distractions at the gym, whether you realize it or not. Eliminating these allows you to focus on your workout, ensuring proper form (to reduce injuries) and greatest output of effort. Here are a few simple rules to avoid some of the most common distractions:

No Friends: If you’re a talker, don’t got to the gym with a good friend—chances are you’ll spend more time discussing the latest gossip than actually working out.

No wires: Purchase a pair of wireless headphones and you’ll wonder why you never realized how distracting regular headphones are.

No single-knotted laces: Always double-knot your shoes. Nothing takes the wind out of your sails like stopping during a good run to tie your shoes.

No texting or emails: Use the gym as your “unplugged” time, and don’t answer emails or text messages.

Track Your Heart Rate

Your heart rate is one of the best ways to track how hard you’re working. It’s ideal to be training within 55-85 percent of your average maximum heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes—use this calculator from Active.com to determine what that means for you in terms of beats per minute (BPM).

If you’re not so good with using your fingers to track your pulse, you can track your heart rate, and whether you’re in the target zone, with a fitness tracker. If you don’t have one already, and want to avoid spending half of your savings account on one, check out this pricing analysis, which found that there’s a wearable for every budget, with prices dipping as low as $45.

Pick a “Partner”

This is a fun and helpful trick if you’re a competitive person who hates the “dreadmill.” When you hop on, look around and find someone who seems to be running at a good pace or doing intervals. Without being obvious, try to keep up with that person, as if you’re racing them. Not only will this make the time go by faster, but you may even get a better workout because you’re competing with someone else.

Another way to use this tactic is to take a class, where you’re working out with a number of other people. This may motivate you to work harder, push through that last set, or pick up a heavier set of weights.

Use these ideas to be more effective at the gym. You’ll make the most of the little time you have and may even speed up the results you’ve been waiting to see.